History of the Okanagan comes alive in digital stories for BC Day

UBC Library project makes publications accessible to everyone

Okanagan communities have a special reason to celebrate this BC Day, thanks to a new digitization project initiated by UBC’s Okanagan Library that makes the region’s history accessible to the world.

Now the rich history of the Okanagan is available in digital story form. Nearly 70 volumes of the Okanagan Historical Society’s (OHS) annual reports were recently digitized. The collection is available online in UBC Library’s digital collections.

This publication is one of the longest, continually published historical periodicals in British Columbia, and includes contributions from branch members including Armstrong-Enderby, Kelowna, Oliver-Osoyoos, Penticton, Salmon Arm, Summerland, the Similkameen and Vernon.

The reports have been used for teaching and learning for decades, with topics ranging from physical geography to cultural studies. The digital collection features more than 15,000 pages, dating from 1926 to modern day, though the most recent years have not been widely published.

“The content that has been made publicly available through this joint initiative between the Okanagan Historical Society and UBC Library will be a tremendous benefit to not only our UBC students, but to all researchers who take an interest in the fascinating history of the Okanagan Valley,” says Heather Berringer, deputy chief librarian at UBC’s Okanagan Library.

“We are incredibly pleased to have been able to support digitization efforts that bring our community to the world.”

UBC’s Okanagan Library proposed the project, and UBC Library’s Digital Initiatives Unit in Vancouver digitized and created the online collection. An official launch celebrating the digitization of OHS Reports is planned for September 2013.